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Red Raven

I stood rapt watching this young wild mare and her first foal (Halcyon and Adelina) on this beautiful summer day in the Pryor Mountains, and the dread started working its cold grip up my chest.

Wild horses in the mountains in family bands took turns drinking and playing in their family groups at the large water hole. The horses in their natural lives on the mountain in their families were spellbinding, and my new camera and I gobbled up the feast of images in an effort to capture the fullness and quiet beauty of the majesty of the horse families. Everything about the horses living on the mountains was right.

I walked toward a wooded thicket, following the sounds of an occasional snort and swish of a tail as the grazing horses kept their customary summer fly vigil. I peered through some bushes and literally stopped in my tracks so I didn’t spook the lovely grulla mare and her resting baby.

The mare saw me and told her filly it would be a good idea to get up, which is what she is doing in the photograph to the right which looks like she posed for the camera. But these horses were somewhat accustomed to human visitors, so although wary, she didn’t leave. The filly, Adelina, stood up and started eating lunch as her very young mother, still just a filly herself at only just over two years old, continued to rest her eyes on me. The trust she showed honored me tremendously. You can’t help but take it personally when a horse, wild or domestic, trusts you. Makes you feel special and understood. But when a wild one trusts you, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.

As Halcyon nursed her baby, Adelina, I recognized her parents, Red Raven and Blue Sioux, made famous by Ginger Kathrens in her first documentary about Cloud, the palomino stallion, who I encountered about 10 minutes later.

As Halcyon nursed her baby, Adelina, I recognized her parents dozing quietly behind her, Red Raven and Blue Sioux, made famous by Ginger Kathrens in her first documentary about Cloud, the palomino stallion, who I encountered about 10 minutes later. Red Raven is Cloud’s red roan brother. He and Blue Sioux have a unique bond and quite the love story, which Ginger captures in her documentary. At the time of my photograph here, they had been together over nine years. Three generations of wild horses stood together quietly in that thicket.

My peace was steadily eroding, consumed by the dread creeping over me. I had never seen a wild horse helicopter roundup before, but these animals would be chased over 10 miles in 90-plus-degree heat in just a few days. I was scheduled to leave the day before it started. This infant, whose hooves were not even hard yet, couldn’t run 10-plus miles! How on earth could these people seriously proceed with this plan? How could I leave?

I hope you will come back next week when I will pick up with more Wild Horse Times and give you an update on these horses and more. Thank you for stopping by!